Cumberland Gap
| Cumberland Gap | |||
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 A foggy morning at the Pinnacle in the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park |
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| Pass height | 488 m | ||
| Kentucky , Tennessee , Virginia ( USA ) | |||
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 US Route 25E ( Wilderness Road )
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| Mountains | Cumberland Mountains ( Appalachian Mountains ) | ||
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 36 ′ 14 ″ N , 83 ° 40 ′ 27 ″ W | ||
Cumberland Gap is the name of a mountain pass located at an altitude of 488 meters in the Cumberland Mountains , a mountain range of the Appalachians . It became famous in the 18th and 19th centuries as the main route for white settlers into the interior of North America. The pass was part of the Wilderness Road , a former Indian trail that Daniel Boone and 35 men expanded.
The pass was named after William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland , after whom some places in North America were named after the Battle of Culloden . The passport changed occupiers four times during the American Civil War . In 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant used the Wilderness Road and the Cumberland Gap in the campaign against Tennessee . Grant is supposed to have said in a general way: With two brigades at the Cumberland Gap I could hold my pass against the army that Napoleon brought to Moscow .
Today the Cumberland Gap is a National Historical Park , and parts of the Wilderness Road can be toured in Wilderness Road State Park in Virginia.
